Hiding in (Somewhat) Plain Sight
by Filodea
Summary: What a difference an accident makes. What if Lily Potter tripped, so she wasn't killed by the AK from Voldemort? Lily decides to leave Britain, and go to America. What can someone do with not a lot of regular schooling, and a small child to raise? Why, become an actress! I don't own Harry Potter or Castle.
1. Chapter 1: A Prologue Part the First

Disclaimer: See the story summary.

A/N: Just something that came to mind when browsing through crossovers, and watching the beginning of a Castle episode.

Chapter One : A Prologue Part the First

Lily Potter pushed herself up from the floor. Her head was pounding; she must have hit it on something. As she looked around, she was puzzled by the disaster the nursery had become. She couldn't figure out what had happened. Next, she heard Harry crying. As she sat up, she must have caught his attention, because he started saying, "Mama, mama!" over and over.

She carefully stood up, knowing a sudden movement would cause her head to come off. As she turned toward the crib, she noticed Harry had blood on his face. It seemed to be coming from a cut on his forehead, shaped like the rune "Sowilo". Her protection charm had worked! It hadn't been meant to reflect an _Avada Kedavra, _but it apparently had.

Lily had seen Lord Voldemort aim his wand at Harry as Harry shifted out from behind her, and speak the hated spell. She had tried to move over in front of her son, but had tripped on a toy that Harry had thrown out of his crib as she was trying to get him to lay down and sleep. She had fallen, and had hit her head on the very sturdy crib that Harry was standing in.

Lily picked Harry up, and shushed him. He was making her head pound more. She pulled out her handkerchief and wiped the blood off his face. The cut seemed to have stopped bleeding on its own. She turned to move out the door, and noticed empty robes lying on the floor, along with a wand. The robes she recognized as having been worn by Voldemort. She assumed the wand was his, so she picked it up, and put it in her wand holder. Her own wand was in her hand.

Walking down the stairs was an exercise in pain tolerance. If she could get to the kitchen, she could get to her stock of potions, and take one for pain relief. She also needed to find James, to see if he was unconscious. Why hadn't he come upstairs to help?

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw James' body lying on the floor. She fell to her knees next to his body, her legs going out from under her. She bent over him and checked for a pulse, just in case. There was no obvious injury, and there was an expression of determination frozen on his face.

There was no pulse. Lily hadn't really expected one.

How long Lily sat beside the body, crying, mourning, she didn't know. Eventually, Harry brought her out of it by patting her face.

"Mama, Daddy up?"

"No, baby, Daddy's not getting up. Not ever again." Lily's voice choked in her throat.

"Why?"

"Daddy's gone away. His body is here, but the rest of Daddy has gone to be with Nana and Poppa." 'And Granny and Gramps', Lily continued in her mind. Harry never met her parents. They died when he was a baby, before she had a chance to take him to meet them.

"All gone?"

"Yes, Harry baby, Daddy's all gone."

"Lily! James! Are you all right?" Dumbledore's voice came from outside.

Lily got up from the floor, and almost fell. Her legs had gone to sleep, and didn't want to hold her up. She hobbled to the door, and went outside. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to see her until she moved beyond the picket fence.

As she opened the gate, Dumbledore moved toward her.

"The alarm in my office went off about half an hour ago, but only the alarm on James. What happened?"

"Voldemort came. He killed James, then came upstairs where I was trying to apparate out. He must have put up an anti-apparation ward. I tried to stop him, but he fired an AK at Harry. I tried to get in front of him, but I tripped and fell and hit my head. I knocked myself out. When I woke up, Harry was crying, and had this cut on his head." She showed the cut, shaped like a backward lightning bolt, to the Headmaster. As long as she stuck to a listing of facts, she wouldn't collapse in grief in the middle of the street.

"Would you be better inside?" Dumbledore was worried that someone might come along and hear what Lily was saying. He didn't need to have to bring an obliviation squad out to deal with something that they could prevent by moving.

"We can go inside. We need to take care of James. Voldemort killed him." Lily paused, then dug a paper out of her pocket. "Read this."

Dumbledore read, "The Potters live at 35 Godric Lane, Godric's Hollow". Immediately, he could see the cottage as it appeared. There appeared to be no damage to the structure.

Lily led him up the walk toward the front door. Harry had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

Once they got inside, Lily moved to put Harry down on the couch, but he had a firm grasp of a lock of her hair, and it would involve removing some of her hair by the roots to get him to let go. She simply sat down on the couch herself, and shifted him to her lap.

"Why would Sirius tell Voldemort where you were? Did you suspect that he might be a Death Eater?"

"Headmaster, Sirius wasn't our Secret Keeper. James and I switched to Peter, because Sirius and James thought he was too obvious a choice. Peter was supposed to be safer, because he was so unobtrusive, so quiet. Well, I guess his animagus form was more prophetic than we knew." Lily's voice had taken on some venom as she finished talking.

"Peter is a Death Eater?" Dumbledore was shocked. Who would have guessed that Peter would turn like that?

"He must be. He had to tell Voldemort where we were himself."

Just then, a buzzing was heard, coming from James' direction. Harry's grasp on Lily's hair had loosened by this time, so Lily was able to put him down on the couch. She moved over to James, and hunted around in his robe pockets until she found a small mirror. She pulled it out of James' pocket, and activated it. "Padfoot".

Sirius Black's face appeared in the mirror. "Lily! Where's Prongs? I went to Peter's house to check on him, but he's not there! He was supposed to stay hidden. Something's wrong!"

Lily moved back over to the couch. Her legs were shaky, and she didn't know how much longer she could stay upright.

"Sirius, Peter betrayed us. Voldemort came here. James is dead. I would be too, but I tripped. The protection worked! Harry's okay, but he has a cut on his forehead. I don't know what happened, but he's okay."

Rage filled Sirius' face. "That RAT! I am going to hunt him down and kill him!"

"Sirius! I need you here. Let the DMLE hunt him down. I need you to help me with everything. You know what hoops we have to jump through to get everything straightened out."

Sirius visibly pulled himself together, letting the anger drain away. Lils was right. She would need him to help her take care of everything.

"Where are you?"

"Godric's Hollow. Get as close as you can, and I will come out and get you."

"Okay. I will be there as quick as I can. Remus is still out of the country."

"I know. See you soon." Lily put the mirror down, and looked up to see Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye, nodding toward the mirror.

"May I presume that is part of the reason The Marauders were so successful in their pranking?"

Despite everything, Lily smiled faintly. "Part of the reason."

Sirius was there within 15 minutes. Lily heard the roar of his motorcycle, and went out to meet him. She and Dumbledore had moved James to the side of the room, and covered him with a spare sheet. They had also called Amelia Bones, who had been James' boss until he had to quit when they went into hiding. They didn't want to do anything else until the DMLE had a chance to examine the scene.

As she went out to meet Sirius, she heard the pop of apparation. When she went out to the front porch, still safe behind the Fidelius, she saw Amelia and Sirius standing in the street talking. She went to the gate and opened it.

At the sound of the gate opening, the newcomers turned and saw Lily. Sirius moved to her quickly, and pulled her into a hug. She buried her face in his chest, and started crying.

"He's gone, Sirius! What am I supposed to do?"

Sirius hugged her closer and talked to her softly. He was fighting back tears of his own.

"I will help you. Remus will help you. Dumbledore will help you. You are not alone in this."

Amelia spoke up at this point. "We will help you also. James was one of our own. We will do all we can."

Lily pulled away from Sirius, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She didn't have a handkerchief on her. She had used hers to wipe the blood from Harry's face. After she mopped her face a little, she pulled the paper out of her pocket. Amelia and Sirius read the message, then followed Lily through the gate and into the front garden.

As they stepped onto the front porch, Dumbledore moved toward the door.  
"Lily, I must be going. I need to notify the Minister that Voldemort is gone, at least for now."

"He's gone, permanently. His body was incinerated, there is nothing there but ashes. I have his wand. There is nothing the Death Eaters can use to bring him back." Lily's voice was flat, unemotional.

"I fear he might have used some dark ritual or another to make sure he could come back. Voldemort was determined to not be permanently defeated, not even by death." Dumbledore was using his "kindly Headmaster" voice.

"You don't understand. I found a ritual of my own. It rebounded any evil used on Harry, and magnified the return. I used runes and charms together. Voldemort's own curse is what killed him. That totally annihilates the body and soul, as Magic assumes the person meant to take their own life, and accommodates them by totally destroying them."

Dumbledore was speechless. He had never considered that way of dealing with the problem of the Dark Lord. "Could I see the ritual you used?"

"You will need Flitwick to help you, as well as your Runes professor. Both parts are very advanced, beyond Master level. It took me from just after Harry was born until about a month ago to put everything together."

"I will talk to Flitwick tomorrow, as well as Professor Dunwood."

"I will owl you with my writeup within the next few days."

Dumbledore walked toward the street. Once he got out to the street, he apparated away.

Sirius and Amelia entered the house, and Amelia immediately started looking around at the burn marks on the walls, and the broken items on the floor, mostly knick-knacks that had been knocked over during the fight. Lily indicated where James' body was, and told Amelia that they had moved it from where he had fallen, to keep them from accidently stepping on it or kicking it.

When Amelia was finished downstairs, she asked Lily to take her upstairs. Lily took her up to the nursery, and handed over Voldemort's wand. She had tucked hers up her sleeve earlier.

Amelia made the same keen observation of the nursery, and carefully moved the robes on the floor, confirming there was simply ash there.

"May I use your fireplace to call a forensics team here?"

"Certainly, the floo powder is on the mantel, in the gold box. Tell them to apparate to Godric's Hollow Chapel. They can walk from there. Here's the paper, so they can see the house."

Amelia left, leaving Sirius and Lily standing in the nursery.

"Let's go into the kitchen. It's the only place I can't see him killing James or Harry in my mind, and I need a cup of tea."


	2. Chapter 2: A Prologue Part the Second

Disclaimer: See story summary.

A/N: I cannot believe the response this story has received! I am totally blown away. Thank you all for your favorites and follows, and especially those who have reviewed. I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. It's been half-written for days, but RL has put a major crimp in things for the last week or so. Things will hopefully settle down (HAH!) so I can write a little more regularly.

Chapter Two: A Prologue Part the Second

Tea was accompanied by more tears, both Lily's and Sirius's. James had been the focal point of the group known as The Marauders (Lily became an honorary member when she and James started dating), and they were unsure what to do now. Sirius was the first to start thinking again.

"Lily, I think the first thing you need to do in the morning is contact James' solicitor, and go to Gringott's. James had a will, didn't he?"

"Of course. It was required when he took over as Head of the Potter family, and he updated it when Harry was born."

"Good. Go to the solicitor's, make sure to get a copy of the will if you don't have one, and go to Gringott's. If there is money involved in the provisions of the will, they will have to be involved."

"Won't I need a death certificate?"

"Amelia will handle that end. Since James was killed in an attack by the Death Eaters, once the scene is thoroughly examined by the DMLE Forensics, they will call to have James's body moved to the mortician's location. The mortician will make out the death certificate and give it to Amelia. She can drop it off at the solicitor's office."

"Where is the mortician? James handled all this when his parents passed away."

"It's just off Diagon Alley. There is an alley called Commerce Alley. It's beyond Gringott's as you're coming from The Leaky Cauldron. The mortician's name is Adams."

Lily started giggling. Sirius was confused.

"I'm sorry. There was a TV show from the United States that was shown here when I was growing up. The main female character was named 'Morticia Addams'."

Sirius started chuckling.

"Anyway, you can start things moving without the death certificate. The seal on the will should have changed to indicate James's death. You can get a copy from them, and take it to Gringott's. They will register the will, and once that is done, you can set up for a will reading to be done."

Lily simply nodded, tears once more making it hard to speak.

"Lily, what are you going to do now? You can't stay here. The Death Eaters know where it is. Peter …, no, Wormtail … Peter is dead. Wormtail made sure of that." Sirius separated the two parts of the man in his mind. Peter was their friend, their classmate, their roommate, the Marauder. Wormtail was the Death Eater, the betrayer.

"I'm not sure. I can stay here for the rest of the night. I'll just bring Harry to bed with me." As if hearing his name, Harry toddled into the kitchen, having heard his mama's voice.

"There's my boy! Can you give Unca Pafoo a hug?" Sirius bent over in the chair so Harry could put his arms around his neck. He then lifted Harry onto his lap.

"Unca Pafoo! Daddy gone bye-bye." Harry was obviously unhappy at the idea.

"I know baby. We will miss him." Sirius had to swallow back his tears at the idea of never seeing James again.

"Mama, no cry. Harry here. Pafoo here. Where Unca Reus?" Harry was puzzled, because Unca Pafoo and Unca Reus usually came together.

Lily had to smile at Harry's efforts to cheer her up. "Uncle Remus is gone on a trip. He'll be back in a few days."

"Not same as Daddy?"

"No. Not the same as Daddy. Daddy's gone for good." Lily's tears started welling up again. She dashed them away, knowing she had to get herself under control.

Sirius, for a change, knew exactly what she was thinking. "Lils, it's okay. It's too soon for you to have control. It just happened a few hours ago. Give yourself permission to grieve."

"I have too much to do, Sirius! I have to take care of Harry, find us a new place to live, deal with the will and Gringott's, find out what James left us …"

"One step at a time. Amelia's crew should be almost finished. When they're gone, you're going to take Harry and go to bed. I'll sleep down here. In the morning, I'll get in touch with Remus, and see if he can cut his trip short. We'll go to the Ministry, pick up the death certificate, go to the solicitors, and then head to Gringott's. I'll be with you every step of the way."

As if his words conjured her up, Amelia walked into the kitchen. "We're done here. We waited until Harry woke up to examine the downstairs. We collected what was left of Voldemort's body." She refused to use those silly pseudonyms.

"Thank you, Amelia."

"If you need any help, let me know. James was a good man, and an excellent Auror." Amelia's eyes briefly glittered with tears, but she forced them back. She would cry for the loss of a friend when she got home.

"I will. I think I will get in touch with Alice and Frank tomorrow… today, and see if we can stay with them. They're in hiding also, so it should be safe." Lily had glanced at her watch as she spoke. It was now about 3:00am.

After Amelia left, Lily took Sirius's advice, and went upstairs. She didn't sleep in the bed. She couldn't. She grabbed the blankets out of the closet, and made a nest on the floor for her and Harry. Once Harry fell back to sleep after being changed and given a bottle, she hugged him close, and silently let the tears fall.

The next morning, Sirius was awakened by his mirror vibrating. He pulled out the small object, and stated, "Moony".

"Padfoot! What in Merlin's name is going on. I received a patronus message from Dumbledore stating that it was urgent I return home. I just got to where he wanted me to go!"

"Moony, there's been an attack. You need to come home." Sirius's face was more somber than Remus could ever remember seeing it.

"Who? Not …?" Moony couldn't even voice it.

"Yes. Lily and Harry are okay, but …"

Remus was overwhelmed. "I'll use my return portkey as soon as I've packed and checked out of my lodgings."

"Thank you. We need you here, to help with everything. Lily is struggling."

"Understandable. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"When you get back here, apparate to Godric's Hollow Church. Call me on your mirror, and I'll come out and get you. The Fidelius held."

"Of course. Two…" Moony swallowed hard. "Two of the Potters still live there."

"See you soon."

"As soon as I can, Padfoot." Moony's face disappeared from the mirror.

Sirius's own face stared back at him, and he realized he looked horrible. He got up from the couch, and went down the hall to the bathroom. He cleaned up, then went into the kitchen to start the water for tea.

Lily woke up to Harry patting her face. "Mama, up! I hungwy."

She hugged him close, then said, "Yes baby, Mama's up. Let's get you changed, then we'll go and see what we have for breakfast." Lily carried her son into his room, and headed toward the dresser. Luckily, it was at the other end of the room from his crib, so there was minimal damage to that part of the room. She cleaned him up, changed his clothes, and picked him back up. They headed toward the stairs, and the smells they could detect coming from downstairs.

When they entered the kitchen, they saw Sirius at the counter, buttering some toast. He turned and saw them in the doorway.

"I can make toast. Not much else, but I can do that much."

"Thank you, Sirius. That will take the edge off for Harry while I fix his breakfast."

"Ours, too?"

"Yes, ours too. You don't need to pull the puppy eyes on me for that."

The three of them sat at the table to eat once Lily was done fixing eggs and some kippers. As they ate, Sirius told her that Remus was on his way back, and would be there as quickly as he could manage. Lily was relieved to hear it. Remus was very level-headed, and could keep Sirius from doing anything ridiculous.

After they ate, and Lily cleaned herself up, she contacted Alice Longbottom. James and Lily were the only ones, besides Frank's mother, that knew the secret to where they were hiding.

Lily threw some floo powder into the fireplace, and stuck her head in. "Alice!"

Alice hurried in from another part of the house. "Lily! It was in the papers this morning. Something happened. Are you okay?"

"No. I hardly slept last night. I made a nest on the floor for Harry and I, because I couldn't face the idea of sleeping in that bed, knowing James will never sleep in it with me again."

Alice nodded. "I would probably do the same if something happened to Frank. Would you and Harry like to come and stay with us for a few days until you get things sorted out?"

Lily was relieved. "Do you have enough room? I will have to be in and out today. Would you be able to keep Harry for me?"

"We have a guest room that is big enough for a crib and a bed. Neville and Harry can play together. They always have fun together."

Lily smiled a little. "Yes, they do. We'll be there shortly. We need to finish getting ready."

"See you in a while, then."

After Lily dropped Harry off at the Longbottoms' location, Sirius and she followed the plan they had set up that morning. When they arrived at the solicitors', Mr. Dewy expressed his condolences.

"The Potters have been clients for a long time. It is so sad to see the family reduced this way. They always stood up to the negative elements of our society, which sometimes gained them some unwelcome attention. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. Do you have a copy of James's will for me to take to Gringott's?"

"Certainly. If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know."

"Thank you, I will."

Lily progressed down the street, being stopped now and then by acquaintances expressing their sympathies. By the time they arrived at the bank, Lily was ready to find a corner and sob for an hour or three.

The two of them walked up to the nearest teller, and Sirius spoke, since Lily was incapable at the moment.

"We need to see the Potter Account Manager. It's concerning James Potter's will."

"Yes, Lord Black. If you will both follow me?"

They walked down a hallway to a door at the end with the name "Grabhand" on a plaque.

The teller knocked on the door, then opened it when a voice gave permission.

"Mrs. Potter and Lord Black to see you."

"Yes. I was expecting them. Come in."

Lily and Sirius went through the door into an office that was not large, but had plenty of room for the desk and file cabinets that were inside it. There were two chairs placed in front of the desk. Grabhand motioned the two of them to sit in the chairs.

"My deepest sympathies, Mrs. Potter. The Potters have been good customers for a long time. James will be missed. He brought a certain … lightheartedness … to his dealings with me. It was refreshing."

Lily gave a half-hearted smile. "Yes, he brought lightheartedness to almost everything he did."

"Do you have his will?" Grabhand got down to business. Time was money, and money was life.

Lily handed the copy of the will she had picked up from the Mr. Dewy to Grabhand. He perused it, then grunted.

"Fairly straightforward. Small bequests to a Remus Lupin, and Neville Longbottom. Everything else to you, then Harry if you pass away before James. You are to serve as Regent to the Potter family until Harry comes of age at 17. We can have a formal will reading when all parties can attend."

"Remus will be back in the next few days, and the Longbottoms are available when it is convenient for you."

"Let me know when Mr. Lupin returns, and we will set something up then."

"Thank you for all you've done for the family over the years. Is there a listing of all the Potter assets? James never went into details, but I know there is at least Potter Manor, plus some other property and other assets."

Grabhand went over to one of the file cabinets, and retrieved a piece of parchment. He returned to his chair and handed across the desk to Lily. She glanced down the list quickly, then stopped at one entry.

"Why do the Potters have property in New York?"

"A squib cousin moved there around the turn of the century. They died without heirs, so they willed the property back to the main branch of the family."

Lily nodded her understanding. She finished looking over the list, then put it in her purse. She stood up, then bowed her head.

"Thank you for your time and attention, Grabhand. When Remus returns, I will contact you so we can set up a formal reading of the will."

"I look forward to assisting the Potters again."

Lily and Sirius left Gringott's, then paused outside.

"Now what do you want to do?"

"Curl up and cry me a river. However, that is not going to happen. I need to go back to the house and start packing things up. We're going to move in with Frank and Alice for a week or two. Meanwhile, we need to get reconstruction specialists in to fix the damage at the cottage. I think Harry and I will move into Potter Manor, eventually. I can't stay in Godric's Hollow, and I think Potter Manor will be safer. "

Sirius agreed. "The only reason James wouldn't stay there is because of his memories of his parents. It will be hard for me as well. I lived there for several years."

As they talked, Lily and Sirius moved back down the Alley toward the Leaky Cauldron. Once there, they flooed back to where the Longbottoms were living.

Lily and Sirius packed up the items Lily wanted to take to the Longbottoms. She moved into their guest room, and began to settle down and relax. She had time to think and plan.


	3. Chapter 3: A Prologue Part the Third

A/N: Thank your for all the support. I am amazed at the response to this story. I apologize for the delay, but RL has been wreaking havoc on my creative impulses. As the summary states, I do not own Harry Potter or Castle.

Chapter Three: A Prologue Part the Third and Final

"That is it! I am taking Harry, and we are moving out of Britain!" Lily's voice was just a little short of full volume, but not by much.

"Lily, calm down. I'm sure it was just a coincidence." Remus was trying to settle her down, but wasn't having much luck.

"Right. Just a coincidence that Frank and Alice come out from under the Fidelius, and are attacked less than three days later. Coincidence that Harry and I were attacked in Diagon Alley when we went to have the final will reading. No. Someone is trying to finish what Voldemort couldn't. My concern is my son. I am moving, and you, Sirius, and Gringott's are the only ones who will know where we are."

Remus could tell he wouldn't be able to get Lily to change her mind. The two attacks had only been thwarted because of the presence of others who were willing to fight, to help protect Lily and Harry. Remus thought the remaining Death Eaters were getting desperate. Going after Lily in daylight in Diagon Alley was almost a guaranteed fail.

The attack at the Longbottoms, however, was a close call. If he and Sirius hadn't shown up to visit with them and Lily, the outcome might have been tragic. As it was, the Lestranges and Barty Crouch, Junior, of all people, were now in Azkaban, in the maximum security wing. They had been questioned using Veritaserum, and had indicated that there was an agreement between the rest of the Death Eaters that Lily had to die for doing something to their Master, and Harry for being the object of obsession for him.

Lily was afraid for her son more than for herself. Obviously, something would have to be done. The best thing she could think of was to leave the country, and hide in the Muggle world. She was Muggleborn, she could do this. The hard part would be getting the necessary documents without letting anyone they didn't want to know, know.

"Documentation. Passports and visas. New name, changed appearance. Where to go to get the documents? Where to live?" Lily was mostly talking to herself by this point. Remus broke into her chain of thought with a solution for the document problem.

"I know someone who is unparalleled for forging documents. Or, you can go to the Muggle world and get the items you need. Wizards would never be able to trace them that way."

Lily liked the idea of the muggle world. She had a birth certificate. So did Harry, as she insisted that he have a paper trail in both worlds. "Muggle world. I'll go and get the necessary paperwork. I'll have to go to Gringott's and withdraw some cash, and transfer the majority to the Barclay's."

"Gringott's will do that?"

"For a fee, anything money-related can be done as long as it's not illegal or against their rules."

Just then Sirius knocked on the door to the sitting room. When he was given permission, he came in and slouched on the couch. "Where's the little guy?"

"Nap. We had a rather interrupted evening if you remember."

"I remember. Barty Crouch, Senior, has been relieved of his position as the Head of the DMLE. He was on the fast track to Minister of Magic. Not anymore. He testified under Veritaserum that he didn't know his son was a Death Eater, until he was arrested."

"When is Junior's trial?"

"He and the Lestranges will be tried in two days. They're trying to get as many names out of them as they can."

"Don't they have to have permission from the Wizengamot to question them?" Lily wasn't totally clear on how the DMLE worked. James was the auror. She was working on her Potions mastery, although she took a break when she got pregnant. Some of the fumes were hazardous to babies.

"Since they were caught in the commission of a crime and they are clearly members of an organization that has been recognized as trying to overturn the Ministry, the DMLE can question them under Veritaserum without specific permission."

Remus brought Sirius up-to-date on what they had been discussing. "Lily wants to leave Britain. She thinks it would be safer for them if they move out of the country."

"You may be right, Lils. Don't the Potters have property in the Colonies?"

Lily smiled at Sirius gratefully. "Yes! They have a townhome in New York City, which is on the East Coast of the United States. That would work. They speak a bastardized variation of English, so the communication difficulties would be minimal. Barclay's may even have a branch in New York. I understand it is very populous there, with a lot of different countries represented in the population."

Remus and Sirius understood Lily's position, but the idea of her moving across the Atlantic Ocean was hard to accept. She would be taking the Marauders' offspring with her. The four, now three, had been close, and James had announced that custody would be shared among the friends, with the birth parents getting first claim. However, Remus and Sirius would be honorary uncles.

"We will miss you both. It won't be the same to communicate through letters."

Lily began to realize the ramifications of her leaving. "I wish you two could come with us. We will miss you, as well." Her eyes began to glisten with moisture.

Sirius sat up suddenly. "Remus could go with you! He is having problems here because of his furry little problem. But, other countries don't have the same restrictions. Maybe he would be better off living over there."

Remus looked over at Lily, and saw the hope in her eyes. "Do you know if it would be better for you there? I would really love it if one of you could come to help, at least in the beginning."

"I can't. I have a job, and I am the heir to the Black family, no matter how much my mother hates the idea. Grandfather refuses to listen to her about disowning me. Regulus is younger, so he can't be heir. I have to be available to perform the duties as heir. The old man is not in good health, and I don't know how much longer he will be around."

Remus had been thinking as the other two talked. "That might work. I could be Lily's brother, helping her out after the recent death of her husband. Once she gets acclimated, I could move out, especially if I can find a steady job there."

Harry's cry as he woke from his nap interrupted their planning. Lily went to get him up. After changing him and grabbing a snack from the kitchen, she returned to the sitting room. Sirius stood up and took Harry from her as he reached for "Unca Pafoo!"

"Hey there, mate! Did you have a nice nap?"

"Uhhuh. Hunggy now."

"Here's your snack. Do you want to sit with Padfoot while you eat?"

Harry bounced up and down in Sirius' arms and reached for the little bowl of fruit. Sirius sat back down on the couch, but kept Harry on his knee, helping him hold the bowl.

Lily returned to the topic. "You could stay with me for as long as you like. If I remember the description correctly, there are at least three bedrooms, plus a study. That should be enough room for the three of us. If Sirius comes to visit, he can sleep on the couch in the living room."

"So, do you want to do this the legal way, or the quick way?"

"I will do this the quick way here, to get out of the country. Once there, we will do it the legal way, to develop a paper trail that can be traced if someone wants to know who we are and how we got there. As the Potter regent, I have the right to visit our property, so that part is okay. The passports are the issue at this point."

Remus had a passport, as he traveled between England and France periodically. Sometimes he could only find work across the Channel. Since he had dual citizenship, going back and forth was not a problem.

"Once we get there, we will need to apply for visas. You have a residence and money, so they won't think you will be a burden on their public services. I, on the other hand…"

"You will be my brother, John Evans. You will be there to help and support your newly-widowed" here, Lily had to pause and take a couple of deep breaths, "sister, who wants to start anew, and get away from all the memories."

"Lily, if we are going to do this the quick way, you are going to have to come up with your new identity, so I can get the passports in that name. I can be your brother, but it will be under your new last name."

"Hmmm. New name … can't be too close to my current one. Since my parents were non-magical, most people in the magical world would have no idea who they were. I can use my mother's maiden name. My mother's middle name will work. My grandmother's name would also work. As for Harry, I can name him for my father and grandfather. Remus can use his middle name, as it's a very common name."

So, who are we?" Remus was impatient to find out his new name. Sirius continued to hold Harry after he finished his fruit, then let him down to toddle over to Lily.

She picked up her son, then turned to the two remaining Marauders.

"Sirius, I would like to introduce you to my brother, John James Rogers. I am Martha Elaine Rogers, and this is my son, Richard Alexander Rogers."


End file.
